Att leva med prostitutionserfarenhet : kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra kvinnor

Sammanfattning: The aim of the study was to reach a deeper understanding and knowledge about how women with an experience of prostitution perceive what this has meant for them and how it has influenced their lives. The questions of the study were: (1) How has the prostitution experience affected the women in their lives? (2) How have they learnt to deal with this experience? To answer these questions a qualitative method was used where interviews were conducted with four women with experience of prostitution. All women experienced that the prostitution had affected their lives. Examples given that inter alia relationships, sexuality, and self-image had been affected. This is largely dependent on that prostitution is stigmatized in our society and, hence, shameful. The women have dealt with their prostitution through therapy for a long duration. Through it they have received a new point of view on themselves, their relationships and their life. Today they are content with their lives, even so they can see that they host and have been affected by their experience. The results of the study have been analyzed from a fenomenological-hermeunutic research perspective and the tools for the analysis were symbolic interactionism, stigma theory and shame. The results are in concordance with earlier studies.